Outside of having a plethora of security experts audit and certify these services I'd say this is about as close as you can get to a ringing endorsement. The only way it gets better is if other governments follow up with the same complaints.
Ultimately I'm pleased that this kind of thing even makes the news. Ideally government becomes almost totally transparent and private matters become nearly opaque (there will always be the investigative aspect of law enforcement). Any reasonably sharp person can now see that the exact opposite is happening. Governments are demanding an ever increasing amount of secrecy while simultaneously requiring that the public give up all hope of privacy. Just to have had this idea escape the realm of conspiracy theory seems like a miracle to me.
> Or they just want criminals to think that all they have to do is buy an Apple or Google phone, and they can't be caught.
There is a greater incentive to let Apple or Google do that kind of marketing and quietly exploit the vulnerabilities (ie, what's been happening with the NSA for some time now). If it had the appearance of working but actually didn't you wouldn't hear a peep from any government.
Unless they need to rebuild the reputations of companies that got hurt by the disclosure of their prior partnerships (ahem, which notably included Apple and Google).
Bingo! This is a stunt to make people who do bad think they're going to be safe. It is all just a clever act. For those who believe this and do bad and get caught, ha!
Exactly. There's no real reason to believe they aren't forcing apple/google to say this while also forcing them to use a flawed encryption algorithm like the eliptic key method with a skeleton key vulnerability.
Government has forced the issue before. I think BlackBerry, for example, had to allow Middle East governments access to their secure messages previously.
The difference now is that there can be dozens of different secure communication apps that the user can install. Potentially run on servers outside of the particular agency's jurisdiction.
This is a much more difficult situation for the agencies than when RIM/Blackberry ran all the messaging through their own service.
If the government were happy with their level of access, they wouldn't stop pushing for more because a) it reveals their hand and b) it weakens their position to acquire more power.
Ultimately I'm pleased that this kind of thing even makes the news. Ideally government becomes almost totally transparent and private matters become nearly opaque (there will always be the investigative aspect of law enforcement). Any reasonably sharp person can now see that the exact opposite is happening. Governments are demanding an ever increasing amount of secrecy while simultaneously requiring that the public give up all hope of privacy. Just to have had this idea escape the realm of conspiracy theory seems like a miracle to me.